Last week Remake released their annual Fashion Accountability Report for 2024. As a long-standing global advocacy organisation fighting for a fairer fashion industry, Remake has helped to rally thousands – if not millions – of shoppers to not only care about who makes their clothes, but call for better conditions, pay, and practices. So this report was an important read – and here are my insights, if you’d rather not read through 50+ pages of tiny script!
Who Is Remake?
Remake is a long-standing global advocacy organisation campaigning for fair pay and climate justice. They were instrumental in getting many fashion brands to honour cancelled contracts during the pandemic and subsequently getting the new International Accord across the line. They work with unions and workers’ rights groups in the Global South, where much of our clothing is made, as well as generating a buzz in the Global North. I have a deep appreciation for their work, and while a lot of it is centred in the U.S., I like to receive their newsletters and support their campaigns. If you’ve got the capacity, I’d also recommend joining their Ambassador Network!
What Is The Fashion Accountability Report?
The Fashion Accountability Report is a 54-page document published by Remake to shine a light on the fashion industry’s social and environmental impact. The report focuses on a total of 52 fashion brands – many of which are fast fashion brands – and all of which make at least $100 million in annual revenue. Remake says they made this choice because “larger companies have both the greatest impacts on people and planet, and the most resources and influence to facilitate transformative change within the industry.”
Within the report, Remake has scored brands’ and retailers’ corporate accountability efforts against a comprehensive set of intersectional human rights and environmental impact criteria. They measure this using publicly available information. The scores are attributed to the following areas:
- Traceability
- Wages and Wellbeing
- Commercial Practices
- Raw Materials
- Environmental Justice
- Governance
In the graphic below, you can see how this year’s 52 fashion brands scored. You’ll note that the top scorer – Everlane – scored just 40 out of a possible 150 points.
My Thoughts On The Report…
Here’s a quick summary of my thoughts on the Fashion Accountability Report. There was some progress made – and in some surprising areas too – but overall, it actually feels like we’re going backwards. Key points:
- To see brands scoring so low – with the top scorer accruing just 40 out of 150 points, or 26% – shows that there is much to be done to achieve real social and environmental justice in fashion.
- While there has been progress in worker’s rights in the past year, such as an increase in the Bangladeshi minimum wage, and more brands permitting unionisation, the comparison of CEO salaries against the Annual Wages for 100 Garment Workers (at both minimum and living wages) was stark. (See page 18, figure 6).
- Many of the brands surveyed have made public commitments to reducing their carbon emissions. However, almost none have Net Zero Targets that are approved by the SBTI, making me suspicious of greenwashing.
- Five fashion brands (Adidas, Cotopaxi, Desigual, Inditex, and VF Corporation) are now disclosing how much clothing they make each year. You would hope with this disclosure that it would encourage them to take steps to make less clothing. Sadly, all five brands have actually increased production since starting to report. (See page 39, Figure 14).
Over to you – what are your thoughts? Did anything surprise you?
How do you feel about the state of the fashion industry as a whole?
